The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing synthetic products by the utilization of a self-exothermic reaction.
A self-exothermic reaction is known as a method of synthesizing ceramics and intermetallic compounds as disclosed, for example, in "KINO ZAIRYO (Functional Material)", published in February, 1988, pages 47 to 58. The method disclosed is a material synthesizing method in which chemical reactions are positively and effectively utilized. In the method, chemical reactions of adjacent portions are continuously caused in a self-propagating manner by heat of reaction released at the material synthesizing time and the entire synthesizing operation in a synthesizing system is initiated by local ignition.
In a conventional synthetic product manufacturing method utilizing the method of the character described above, an HIP (Hot Isostatic Pressing) equipment or a spring pressure applying equipment is utilized for carrying out self-exothermic reaction under pressure.
However, the HIP equipment is very costly and the treatment or procedure by the utilization of the HIP equipment requires much manual labor, thus being inconvenient and troublesome, which results in cost increases of the synthetic products. In addition, in a case where the final synthetic product is produced by the utilization of self-exothermic reaction, an environmental pressure higher than that obtained by the HIP equipment is sometimes required, but conventional HIP equipments can hardly satisfy this requirement.